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Richmond, VA Culture & Politics Since 2005

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I Love It Loud: RVA Mag 50th Edition Weekend Playlist by Avail

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Every Friday night for the past 49 weeks, RVA Mag has brought you an absolutely essential playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

Now for week 50 of our ongoing Weekend Playlist feature, we bring you a very special new playlist from Avail. After all, tonight’s the night — the first of two hometown shows marking Avail’s first live performances in over a decade happens at The National, only a few short hours from now.

Did you get your tickets? Are you seeing them tomorrow? Or are you one of the many who got bit by a lack of ready cash at the proper time? Regardless of which of these categories you fall into, you’re sure to love this playlist cooked up special for RVA Magazine’s readers by Avail to celebrate their return.

From classic punk, hardcore, and metal tunes to unexpected detours taking us through the outskirts of country, hip hop, and acid rock, this playlist really has it all — and it goes on for 50 tracks, one for each of our 50 weeks providing you with Weekend Playlists.

Get stoked, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Negative Creep: Weekend Playlist By Pissing Contest

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Every Friday night, RVA Mag brings you an absolutely essential playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

Our playlist this week comes to us from Richmond’s own Pissing Contest, whose harsh, angry, yet catchy as hell punk rock stylings distinguish themselves as both blatantly filthy and full of subtle intelligence — as all the best punk bands do. They released their second album, The Fountain (which references both urine and Marcel Duchamp on its cover — I dig it), earlier this year, and this Sunday night will find them releasing a cassette featuring both of their albums, cleverly entitled Pisscography, at Bandito’s.

Learn more about that free show, which also features fellow Richmonders Roy Batty and Weird Tears, here, and while you wait for Sunday night to roll around, spend your weekend punking out and circle-pitting around your backyard to this excellent mix from Pissing Contest. We’d say “to whet your appetite,” but with a name like Pissing Contest, it’s best to keep food-related metaphors far away from the conversation.

Get pissed, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Front Page News: Weekend Playlist by Dakota Hood

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Every Friday night, RVA Mag brings you an absolutely essential playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This time around, our playlist comes from Dakota Hood. Now, you may recognize this actress-turned-singer’s face from her role as the District 10 female tribute in Hunger Games. But more recently, young Ms. Hood’s focus has been on country music — she’s grabbed a bit of attention with her first two singles, “Front Page News” and “Louder,” and now she’s ready to take the next step toward stardom.

If you head out to the Flying Squirrels game next Tuesday, July 9, you’ll be able to see Dakota Hood sing the National Anthem, but right now we’ve got a packed playlist for you featuring all of the young singer’s faves from the country, pop, and emo worlds, among others. It’ll keep you smiling and your feet tapping throughout this post-Independence Day weekend.

Play ball, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Sickle Moon Blues: Weekend Playlist By Infant Island

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Every Friday night, RVA Mag brings you an absolutely essential playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This time around, we’ve got one from Infant Island, the Fredericksburg-based screamo band who is working hard to carry the torch for Virginia screamo far beyond the Commonwealth. In fact, they just released a 4-way split EP with three bands from various points across North America — New Jersey’s Massa Nera, Illinois’s Frail Body, and Montreal’s dianacrawls. You can grab that EP in vinyl, cassette, or digital form at Infant Island’s Bandcamp.

The band will be headed out on tour in July, and will next play Richmond in August. But until they return to our fair city, they’ve brought us a jam-packed playlist that mixes the past, present, and future of screamo and metallic hardcore into a wide variety of sounds from outside their genre — ranging from quiet folk ballads to soaring post-rock anthems. It’s quite the journey, and is sure to spice up your weekend.

Let it rip, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Five Ten Fiftyfold: Weekend Playlist by Hex Machine

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Every Friday night, RVA Mag brings you an absolutely essential playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This one comes to us from Hex Machine, the veteran RVA noise-rock act that brought us their excellent debut album, Fixator, back in 2012. Since then, the group has kept a somewhat low profile while singer/guitarist Trevere Thomas and drummer Douglas Andrae spent three years as the rhythm section for legendary experimental metal band Today Is The Day.

However, the duo have returned to full-time action with Hex Machine, and, along with bassist Alex Ricart, unleashed their long-awaited followup LP, Cave Painting, this week. The new album finds the group’s trademark noise chaos leavened by a dose of 80s postpunk, taking their entire sound to the next level. They’ll be kicking off an East Coast tour to support the album with a performance at Wonderland on Wednesday, July 17, and you’re not going to want to miss it.

Until then, you can enjoy this playlist prepared especially for you by the members of Hex Machine. It ranges widely across genres both predictable and totally unexpected — ambient electronic sounds sit shoulder to shoulder with raging punk and cerebral progressive metal.

Immerse yourself, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Raised In The City: Weekend Playlist by Benjamin Shepherd

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Every Friday night, RVA Mag introduces you to yet another outstanding playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This time around, we have a playlist from Richmond singer-songwriter Benjamin Shepherd, whose latest LP, Hold The Line, entered the world last month. On that album, Shepherd’s introspective take on Americana-influenced rock n’ roll is distinctive and memorable, and the playlist he’s prepared for RVA Mag listeners will take you on a similar journey through discontented punk, mournful blues, and pensive folk sounds.

Shepherd’s next live gig here in Richmond will be on August 22 at Garden Grove Brewing, along with Lowlight and Little River Creek Police. That’s a little while away, but this playlist should keep you smiling, thinking, and nodding along until then.

Hold the line, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond